Contrary to what it looks like, Janne da Arc is an old band, who needed a loooong time before getting famous. Their story began in 1989, when Yasu, Kiyo and Ka-yu (who will leave them very soon after) form a band.
They use the name Janne da Arc only from 1991, when You joins them. This name comes from a character of Go Nagai's manga Violence Jack... this character being a "heavy" version of the French heroin.
Ka-yu comes back in 1992, and their record a first demo-tape in November, then a second in July 1993, and a third in August 1994. In this period, the band played concert after concert in live-houses, but couldn't manage to find their own audience.
In March 1996, Shuji, who was a session member until then, becomes an official member of the band. In July 1997, they release a new demo-tape, Resist.
In February 1998, they play their first "one-man concert" at Hiragata Blow Down. In April, their first mini-album, Dearly, is released, then they play on a tour called Break Out, a new mini-album, Resist, is released in December, and a new tour follows. A third mini-album, Chaos Mode, is released in March 1999.
Still, although they have been existing for 10 years, Janne da Arc still doesn't manage to make it through. This is when they decide to try this new "trendy-style": visual kei. Indeed, their new single Red Zone stays in the top 50 of the Oricon charts for 3 weeks: (thanks to their new look?) Janne da Arc finally goes out of the shadows, after years and years of hard work!
...But explaining this sudden success is rather difficult, as they didn't really change, musically speaking.
They become Major in 1999, when they sign with the label Cutting Edge (which is part of Avex, that usually produces pop idols: they're the first "visual" band to work with this label).
With D.N.A. and Z-Hard, they confirm the quality of their songs and try to leave their "visual" image, that they only used for a small time, in order to leave anonymity and reach a well-deserved fame. Still, they begin to play "lighter" songs (they were what you could call a hard-fm/heavy band in their indies days, they become... rock, sometimes pop), mainly because of the keyboards more and more present. But this allows them to have successful hits, like Lunatic Gate, Heaven's Place or Eden.
They confirm their success with their album Gaia... where heavier sounds begin to come back. But it will be even more obvious with their last album to this date: Arcadia: definitely a hard-fm album, in the most positive meaning of the word, with the slightly pop sound it includes... but it's part of hard-fm! it' s one of the things that make it good!
..
Diamond Virgin
JOKER - 06/15/2005
01. in silence
02. TSUMETAI KAGEROU
03. Gekkouka
04. D DROP
05. HELL or HEAVEN ~Itoshi no Psycho Breaker~
06. Kamen
07. I'm so Happy
08. WILD FANG
09. easy funky crazy
10. Mr. Trouble Maker
11. Love is Here
12. Kaze ni Notte
13. Diamond Virgin
ARCADIA - 07/07/2004
01. ACID BREATH
02. ROMANCE
03. Heavy damage
04. DOLLS
05. trap
06. Kokoro no yukue
07. Athens
08. FREEDOM
09. WIZARD
10. process
11. BLACK JACK
12. kaneeshon
13. Kiss me
ANOTHER SINGLES- 09/18/2003
01. seal
02. FAKE
03. Vanish
04. Vanity
05. IMAGE or...
06. differ
07. Blue tear ~ ningyo no namida~
08. Knife
09. GUNS
10. Dear my...
11. MOTHER BRAIN
12. QUEEN
13. answer
14. MEDICAL BODY
15. Who am I?
SINGLES - 02/13/2003
DISC 1
01. RED ZONE
02. Lunatic Gate
03. EDEN ~kimi ga inai~
04. Heaven's place
05. will ~ chizu ni nai basho~
06. Mysterious
07. Dry?
08. NEO VENUS
09. seed
10. Sylvia
11. feel the wind
12. Shining ray
13. Maria no tsumeato
14. Kasumi yuku sora sei ni shite
15. Rainy ~ai no shirabe~
DISC 2
01. Ueta Taiyou
02. Legend of~
ANOTHER STORY - 02/13/2003
01. 1/5 No Otohako
02. in the story
03. Maria no tsumeato
04. OASIS
05. Akai tsuki
06. Ubawareta chie
07. suicide note
08. What's up!
09. PARADISE
10. explosion
11. Kasumi yuku sora sei ni shite
12. Vampire
13. Otome To Koori No Joou
14. Rasen
15. Rainy ~ ai no shirabe~
16. Shining ray
GAIA - 01/23/2002
01. GAIA
02. Cell
03. sister
04. feel the wind
05. curse
06. GUILTY PAIN
07. ZERO
08. still
09. AGE
10. seed
11. Plastic
12. Sylvia
Z-HARD - 02/28/2001
01. Nightmare
02. -Kyuuseishu Messiah -
03. Prism
04. Dry?
05. 7 - seven -
06. NEO VENUS
07. will ~chizu ni nai basho~
08. WARNING
09. Liar
10. Dear my...
11. Mysterious
D.N.A. - 03/08/2000
01. Deja-vu
02. Vanity
03. Phantom
04. EDEN ~kimi ga inai~
05. Child vision ~ehon no naka no kirei na majo~
06. Stranger
07. Sakura
08. Lunatic Gate
09. Junky Walker
10. RED ZONE
11. Ring
12. Heaven's place
..
Destination
If you would like to purchase a Janne Da Arc album,go to either of the sites below. Either or should have what your looking for.:)
Yes Asia!
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